Table 4.
Main compounds of seaweeds involved in biotechnological applications.
| Seaweed | Main Bioactive Compound | Property | Biotechnological Application | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phaeaophyceae | ||||
| Laminaria hyperborea | Alginate | Biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxic behaviour | Cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries as stabilizers | [18,40] |
| Ascophyllum nodosum | ||||
| Ecklonia radiata | ||||
| Durvillaea sp. | ||||
| Lessonia sp. | ||||
| Sargassum sp. | ||||
| Scytothalia dorycarpa | ||||
| Cystophora subfarcinata | ||||
| Sargassum linearifolium | ||||
| Macrocystis pyrifera | Alginate | Biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxic behaviour | Cosmetics as a thickening agent | [36] |
| Phlorotannins | Antioxidant activity | Cosmetics for preventing skin aging | [90] | |
| Ecklonia cava | Phlorotannins | Anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral activities and antihypertensive effects. | Pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries | [49,50,53] |
| Eisenia arborea | Phlorotannins | Antiallergic effects | Pharmaceutical industry | [62] |
| Eisenia bicyclis | Phlorotannins | Antidiabetic, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities | Pharmaceutical and medical industries | [61] |
| Ecklonia kurome | ||||
| Ecklonia stolonifera | ||||
| Pelvetia siliquosa | ||||
| Ishige okamurae | ||||
| Fucus vesiculosus | Phlorotannins | Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties | Cosmetics, to produce make-up and sunscreens | [91] |
| Fucus evanescens | Fucoidans | Anticoagulant activity | Potential substitute to heparin | [92,93] |
| Laminaria cichorioides | ||||
| Rhodophyta | ||||
| Chondrus pinnulatus | λ-carrageenan and κ-carrageenan | High viscosity in drinks; antitumoral property | Food industry (production of drinks, e.g., milk and chocolate) and pharmaceutical industry | [7,73] |
| Chondrus armatus | ||||
| Chondrus yendoi | ||||
| Kappaphycus striatum | κ-carrageenan | Antitumoral activity against human nasopharynx carcinoma, human gastric carcinoma, and cervical cancer cell lines | Pharmaceutical industry | [94] |
| Kappaphycus alvarezii | κ-carrageenan and agar | Antioxidant properties | Cosmetics and nutraceutical industry | [68,95] |
| Gracilaria edulis | Agar Phenolic, flavonoid, and alkaloid compounds |
Antidiabetic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumoral activities; hypoglycaemic activity | Pharmaceutical industry | [74,96,97,98] |
| Laurencia catarinensis | Halogenated metabolites | Antitumoral activity | Pharmaceutical industry | [99] |
| Laurencia obtuse | Diterpene and sesquiterpene | Actions against different cancer cell lines (KB, HepG2 and MCF-7) | Pharmaceutical industry | [99] |
| Griffithsia sp. | Griffith (Protein) | Antiviral activity against MERS-CoV-2 virus and SARS-CoV-2 glycoprotein | Pharmaceutical industry | [100,101] |
| Chlorophyta | ||||
| Caulerpa racemosa | Phenolic compounds and flavonoids | Antioxidant, scavenging, anti-proliferative activities of cancer line cells | Pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries | [102,103] |
| Ulva lactuca | Ulvan | Antioxidant activity, antimicrobial and photocatalytic activities | Food industry (the whole body is used as salad) and industrial industry (production of biogas and biodiesel) | [83,103,104,105,106] |
| Ulva rigida | Ulvan | Antigenotoxic activity in human lymphocytes; hypoglycaemic effect in vivo experiment | Pharmaceutical industry | [107,108] |
| Ulva fasciata | Ulvan | Antioxidant and good mechanical properties; antiviral property | Industrial industry to develop bioplastics; pharmaceutical industry | [109,110] |